Along with his batting and fielding skills, Rahman can bowl some handy leg-spin. Hence, in England, he is expected to play a key role in his team's scheme of things.

Sabbir Rahman is an immensely talented and flamboyant middle-order batsman who likes to take the attack to the opposition. He has a wide range of shots in his armoury and has the ability to thrive under pressure.

The Rajshahi-born cricketer is a huge fan of Shahid Afridi. In fact, it was Afridi's 37-ball century against Sri Lanka, which inspired him to take up cricket as full-time profession.The right-hander made his first-class at the age of 16 but first grabbed the limelight when he scored an unbeaten 33 off 18 against Afghanistan, which helped his team to earn a gold medal in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

File image of Sabbir Rahman. Reuters

However, he had to wait four more years for his international debut, which came against Zimbabwe in 2014. Later, he was a part of the team in the ICC Cricket World 2015 in Australia and New Zealand and impressed there as a middle-order batsman.

Initially, because of his tendency of taking frequent risks as a batsman, Rahman was only considered as a T20 specialist. However, as he continued to show his prowess as a 50-over batsman, Rahman gradually became a regular member of Bangladesh white-ball set-up. In the 2016 Asia Cup (in T20 format) at home as well as the World T20 in India in the same year, Rahman was used at No 3 spot, to take advantage of the powerplay overs. And the youngster thrived in that role.

Now, in the 2019 World Cup, Rahman is expected to be one of Bangladesh’s first-choice options for the playing XI. Thanks to his power-hitting abilities, ideally the Tigers should use him at No 7. He can be best used as a batsman in the death overs. Along with his batting and fielding skills, Rahman can bowl some handy leg-spin. Hence, in England, he is expected to play a key role in his team's scheme of things.

Let’s not forget that Rahman is coming back in this Bangladesh set-up following a disciplinary ban, which was imposed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board. Though he featured in the limited-overs’ leg of the recent New Zealand tour, but the World Cup will be Rahman's first major assignment following the break. And through his on-field performance, he would like to prove his critics wrong.